American Notions of Equality

The readings for today were very interesting. The first work I read was "The Declaration of Independence" by Thomas Jefferson. As our topic today pertains to notions of equality it is quite obvious that Jefferson's document is a straight forward demand of equality at it finest state. The Declaration of Independence was breed from a harsh and unfair government in Great Brittan. The King of Brittan at that time knew no limits to inequality, injustice, or basic right to which his people were denied. In the text Jefferson states, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." This shows that the "America" that Jefferson envisioned would be everything that Great Brittan was not. He used the flaws and corruption of the British government as a foundation for what was to be of this new land. In doing so he also gave a lot of reasons as to why there should be equality in every aspect of life. In one important line he stated, "He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people". This shows that the nature of equality in his mind is something that has to be asserted to all and from this, I believe that Jefferson defines equality as one of the most important fibers of a nation and also values it as such. I think that religion factors into Thomas Jefferson's notion of American equality in that it is the basis and foundation of his beliefs. He mentions God throughout the first half of the reading stating that we have all been endowed with certain alienable rights given to us by the Creator. This proves that not only does he believe in equal rights, but he believes that we have been afforded them by God which closely shows his religious influence.


The next two works that I read were "Letters from an American Farmer" and "The Crisis No.1". These texts were quite long so I decided to talk about them in unison. In "Letters from an American Farmer" de Crevecoeur embraces his new found life in America and analyzes and questions what an American ought be. He states, "He is arrived on a new continent; a modern society offers itself to his contemptation, different from what he had hitherto seen. It is not composed, as in Europe, of great lords who possess every thing and of a herd of people who have nothing". This shows his distinction between a bitter past and optimistic future. I believe that de Crevecoeur more so than Jefferson is elated at his findings and in a sense he is ambitious to exploring the possibilities of this new world. Equality in his mind is just that- equal in mind, equal in pursuing dreams, passions, and above all, equal at living a comfortable life although he does point out that this may not come easy. He says,"By living in or near the woods, their actions are regulated by the wildness of the neighbourhood. The deer often come to eat their grain, the wolves to destroy their sheep, the bears to kill their hogs, the foxes to catch their poultry. This surrounding hostility, immediately puts the gun into their hands; they watch". I found some symbolism in this statement that possibly referred to the assumed certainty that by doing what "we" did and breaking free from Britain, we have escaped but are still in a dangerous situation. We have escaped into the woods (America) and we must defend our sheep from the wolves (Great Britain) with the gun in our hands. This symbolizes a continuous fight towards equality in this new land.
In Thomas Paine's "The Crisis" I think it would be safe to say the he wholeheartedly viewed America as having the potential to become one of the most powerful nations in government. I also think that Paine's work shined a light more on the efforts that they should have put forth in order to maintain the freedom and equality that was worked so hard to achieve. He stated, "By perseverance and fortitude we have the prospect of a glorious issue; by cowardice and submission, the sad choice of a variety of evils — a ravaged country — a depopulated city — habitations without safety, and slavery without hope...". Paine defined equality as hope, progress and strength. He knew that without it, life made no happiness out of itself a people no comfort. Both Paine and de Crevecoeur had religious influences on their notions of equality. Paine said, "I thank God, that I fear not. I see no real cause for fear. I know our situation well, and can see the way out of it". I believe that he uses religion not only to influence his thoughts but I also think that he use it as a reason why he and others around him cannot fail at the good fight. In de Crevecoeur's case, I think that he uses religion to make a point about the need for equality while pointing out its many faces and bad sides. He stated, " Persecution, religious pride, the love of contradiction, are the food of what the world commonly calls religion". Both authors show their ambition as well as their fight for equality.


The last of today's reading was a poem by Phillis Wheatley entitled, "On Being Brought From Africa to America". I felt as if Wheatley viewed equality as something that was not really given to her until she came to America. It seems as though she had a mindset that African American would not have agreed with in her time. She states, " Remember, Christians, Negros, black as Cain /  May be refin'd and join th'angelic train". (7-8) The only thing I could take from these lines was that her notion of equality was to conform and become "pure" to join the "angelic train" which in my opinion is approval and equality from whites. Her poem in its entirety has religious influence and she even differs from God and a savior in line three of the poem. She viewed equality and they way in which to achieve it in a very unpopular way of her time in my opinion. 


I believe that contemporary notions in America are similar with these authors as far as life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness is concerned, but as with anything else, things are susceptible to change. I think that today we still have the same desire of equality as they did but because people of my generation did not experience what others have experienced in earlier times, I do not believe that our level of intensity or the same aspects of equality are in the same boat as the authors we discussed today.


Throughout all of these readings I kept making a connection with an old history class I took. We constantly talked about equality and the lack of it and applied it to every thing we covered in that class. The lesson today kind of reminded me of that class. 


How do you view equality in today's Society? Do you think that it is still as much of an issue as it was 20, 30, or even 40 years ago?